Liberal party to decide whether to dump net zero next week
The Liberal party will resolve its position on net zero emissions next week after a months-long debate that has fractured the party.
Sussan Ley’s leadership team met on Thursday and agreed on a process for settling the divisive policy.
In the first of a three-stage process, Liberal MPs will return to Canberra next Wednesday (12 November) to endorse a “set of principles” to guide the party’s climate and energy policies.
The party’s federal director, Andrew Hirst, will attend the meeting to present “recent research”, according to a memo from the leader’s office distributed to Liberal MPs on Thursday afternoon.
The following morning (13 November), members of the Liberal shadow ministry will meet to consider a submission from energy and emissions reduction spokesman, Dan Tehan, to finalise the party’s position.
After that meeting, three senior MPs from both the Liberals and Nationals will meet to thrash out a joint Coalition position, which will be put to a virtual joint party room meeting for endorsement on Sunday 16 November.
As reported this week, the Liberals are expected to follow the Nationals in dumping the target of net zero emissions after Ley’s leadership team turned against the policy.
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Pilot dies in ultra-light plane crash
A pilot of an ultra-light plane has died after it crashed in a paddock in NSW’s Riverina region.
NSW police said emergency services responded to the crash yesterday at a paddock about 30km north of Hay.
The 39-year-old man, who was the only person in the place, was taken to hospital in a critical condition before he died.
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Ed Husic on getting kicked out of parliament for Zohran Mamdani interjection
Labor MP, Ed Husic, was kicked out of parliament this afternoon for an interjection where he joked about Labor having Zohran Mamdani in its ranks after a question from the shadow environment minister.
Although Husic is from Labor’s right faction, he said the left-wing mayoral candidate’s victory was “a really big deal,” on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing:
It was a bit of a ratty question from the Coalition talking about the influence of the left wing on our party... I may have yelled out something about ‘you forgot to mention Zohran Mamdani.’
It should be unexceptional in a democracy that people with different faiths are elected to represent their community...
In Zohran Mamdani’s case he is the first Muslim elected as mayor of New York ... this was a really big deal ... He defied Islamophobic attacks against him.
Husic was the first Muslim cabinet minister in Australia’s history and said Mamdani reminded him of the importance of “passion and purpose”.
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Two NSW legal peak bodies back state establishing a Human Rights Act
The two peak bodies for the legal profession in NSW have united in support for a public inquiry into the state establishing a Human Rights Act, with one saying too many members of disadvantaged communities are being failed without it.
The bill to establish a Human Rights Act in NSW, which already exists in Victoria and would help build a human rights framework, has been proposed by Greens MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Dominic Toomey SC, and the president of the Law Society of NSW, Jennifer Ball, backed the state establishing the act, and called for an inquiry so the parliament could listen to experts.
Toomey said:
Every day the Association’s members work alongside First Nations people, minority groups, children, people with disability and many others whose human rights have been failed to be observed in some way.
A comprehensive public inquiry will allow the Parliament to hear from experts, and those whose rights have been denied, and will support the Parliament in developing a Human Rights Act that operates appropriately and effectively for the people of NSW.
Ball said:
This support for a standalone Human Rights Act is grounded in the Law Society’s commitment to the rule of law, as it would provide a clear, principled framework for consistent decision-making. A full and open parliamentary inquiry will enable robust public debate about this important issue.
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Man dies after truck crashes into bridge in Lithgow
A man employed with Sydney Trains has died after after a “cherry picker” truck hit a bridge and caused it to collapse in Lithgow, New South Wales.
NSW police said emergency services responded at about 8.50 this morning. The driver, a 38-year-old man also employed with Sydney Trains, was able to free himself. But the 34-year-old passenger was trapped inside and died at the scene .
Emergency services – including paramedics, Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW Rural Fire Service – worked for hours to free the man.
Police said:
Investigations are continuing and anyone with dashcam or information is urged to contact Lithgow Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Catastrophic house fire rocks regional community
A catastrophic house fire that claimed four lives is a tragedy that will send ripples through an entire regional community, Queensland’s premier says.
Central Queensland is reeling after the fatal early morning house fire, the second deadly blaze to kill multiple people in the state in less than a month.
The bodies were discovered in the burnt remains after emergency services extinguished the fire at Emerald, police said.
The blaze erupted before 7am on Thursday in the regional town about 270km west of Rockhampton.
A crime scene has been declared, with police and fire investigators launching a major investigation, a Queensland police service spokesperson said.
Premier David Crisafulli said the tragedy would send ripples through the community:
It’s the kind of event that rocks all communities, but particularly smaller communities.
– AAP
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Sarah Hanson-Young says government playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with social media ban
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the government is “trying to play whack-a-mole” with its under-16s social media ban, rather than ensuring “big tech companies are forced to provide safe platforms for everybody.”
The senator said in an afternoon press conference that parents should be “really worried”:
What this ban is going to do, is lock kids out of some spaces, while allowing a free-for-all in other areas, Roblox is one of them.
I am worried the false sense of security that the government has promoted to parents is going to lead children to a much more dangerous place.
I want the internet, I want social media, I want big tech companies held to account.
Guardian Australia’s Sarah Martin spent a week in the world of Roblox, where her young alter ego was “cyber bullied and attacked while exploring clubs, casinos and horror games, all with parental control in place.”
On Wednesday, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said Roblox would not be included in Australia’s new social media ban but warned it remained “on the line” as the ban was continually assessed.
You can read Sarah Martin’s reporting here:
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Triple zero calls during Optus tower outage yesterday did not require further assistance
Yesterday we mentioned in the blog that there was an Optus outage in parts of the Hunter Valley caused by a cut to the fibre connecting the tower that is now being investigated by police.
During the outage yesterday, 13 customers in NSW and Victoria attempted to call 000 but could not connect. All confirmed on Thursday they did not require further assistance, an Optus spokesperson said.
Two of the calls were accidental dials to triple zero.
Optus’s camp-on function that allows a mobile to connect to triple zero during an outage worked for some calls during the outage.
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Hello, I’ll now be with you until this evening.
Thank you all for joining me on the blog today, there was so much procedure in the chambers to keep across I’ll be having a long nap this arvo!
I’ll hand you over now to the wonderful Jordyn Beazley for the rest of the afternoon.
Tl;dr here’s what happened in question time
The Coalition started firing off questions to the government on the cost of living, citing Foodbank and Anglicare reports about financial hardship and households going hungry. The PM called the Liberals a “temple of doom” in response.
Independent MP Monique Ryan pushed the health minister to explain why the medical research future fund isn’t spending more of its huge budget on research projects.
Labor MP Ed Husic was ejected from QT during a spar between Angie Bell and Tony Burke on environment reforms. Husic fist-bumped the air as he left the chamber. Soon after, Nationals MP Alison Penfold was also booted during a dixer.
There seemed to be a larger share of crossbench questions today. Bob Katter – fresh off seeing his new portrait in parliament – asked the government about truth in political advertising laws, after accusing the Queensland LNP of lies during a byelection campaign.
And before QT even started today, Anthony Albanese was locked out of the chamber for a vote on an amendment to the environment protection bill (it didn’t result in any adverse impact for the government but the photo is good).
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Change to firearm prohibition orders in NSW a ‘sensible reform’, justice advocate says
Back in May, Guardian Australia reported on growing concerns that Firearm Prohibition Orders (FPOs) in NSW were being used as a “blank cheque” to target Indigenous young people.
A FPO can be made if it’s deemed by police that someone is not fit, or in the public interest, to possess a firearm – even if they have never been charged with a weapons offence or any crime. The powers allow someone with a FPO to be searched at any time without a warrant.
Guardian Australia found that of the 125 people under 18 who had been served with an order, 54% identified themselves as Aboriginal. But also, while people as young as 14 were subject to a FPO, a legal loophole prevented them from being able to appeal it to the NSW civil and administrative tribunal (NCAT) – a right granted to adults.
A recent legislative change by the NSW government has changed what it called “a long-standing drafting error” dating back to 2013, now allowing young people to challenge the orders in the NCAT.
Lucy Kelley, solicitor at the Justice and Equity Centre, which has been lobbying for changes to the regime, said FPOs give “NSW police extraordinary and excessive powers without accountability to the community”.
We’re pleased the government has listened and made this sensible reform, which means children can now challenge an FPO in the tribunal in the same way adults can.
It’s a small change but it will have a huge impact as FPOs never expire, so a successful challenge by a young person under these new laws could protect them from years of invasive searches and ongoing police targeting.
Yasmin Catley, NSW police minister, told Guardian Australia the change “restores the intent of the law and ensures all people, including those under 18, have access to a fair and transparent review process”.
These orders will remain an important tool used by NSW Police to prevent members of the public, including children, from obtaining firearms where inappropriate.
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Question time ends
After a final dixer to the prime minister, question time is over for the fortnight. Next one on 24 November.
Bob Katter asks about byelection ‘lies’
Independent MP Bob Katter gets the next question (a somewhat rare occurrence of two crossbench questions in a row).
He asks the minister representing the minister of state about “lies” by the Queensland LNP in a state byelection.
Amanda Rishworth (representing Don Farrell) says the issue isn’t in her jurisdiction but that truth in political advertising is a “genuine issue”.
We know regulating paid political communication and indeed more broadly mis- and disinformation is a complex issue with many members and senators having varied ideas, concerns and views on these types of pieces of legislation.
Members of the crossbench like Kate Chaney and David Pocock have been pushing the government to introduce truth in political advertising reforms.
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Independent Sophie Scamps questions Mark Butler on Northern Beaches hospital
Independent MP Sophie Scamps gets the next crossbench question, and asks the health minister for assurances that her community on the Northern Beaches of Sydney will get access to “world-class private services”. The Northern Beaches hospital – which provided public and private services – went into receivership and will become a public hospital.
Mark Butler first heavily criticises the Liberals broadly for “seeking to defend failed privatisation experiments” and states Labor has never privatised a hospital in the last 30 years.
On the issue at hand, Butler says:
This is all complicated by the fact Healthscope more broadly – which runs well over 30 hospitals including Northern Beaches, across the country – is now in receivership. So we are taking the lead as the commonwealth, making sure there is continuity of service from all those other Healthscope hospitals. But we took a decision as a government [that] NSW Health would lead on essentially unwinding arrangements and guaranteed private and public services on the Northern Beaches site.
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PM asked, again, about Labor’s 2022 pledge to reduce power bills
It’s the short-lived promise that will plague Labor a long time. Anthony Albanese is asked again about the 2022 pledge to reduce power bills by $275 by 2025. LNP MP Andrew Wilcox quotes Labor MP Luke Gosling who, on a Sky News panel, said “how long are you guys going to hang on to that to $275 piece?”
Albanese returns serve to lay blame on Angus Taylor (as he’s done many times) for changing legislation ahead of that 2022 election to “hide where power prices were”.
The PM then bags the Coalition and its very public internal energy debate.
I congratulate him [Gosling] for squeezing in [on TV] between all those frontbenchers who have spent day after day, week after week, giving us I assure you quotable quotes …. for ever. Bagging each other, speaking about how Australia will become a pariah state.
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Second ejection from the chamber
We have ejection number two in question time, with Nationals MP Alison Penfold booted under 94a, after interjecting during a dixer (government backbench question).
Milton Dick tells everyone to pipe down, even if everyone wants to get home for the weekend.
She [Penfold] has had a pretty good go this week. It may be Thursday but everybody still has to follow the rules.
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Labor’s Ed Husic ejected from question time for shouted reference to Mamdani
Shadow environment minister Angie Bell takes the next question and asks the resources minister, Madeleine King, if she’ll listen to WA premier Roger Cook “to please, please, please, not cave into the Labor left dominated backbench on the EPBC bills.”
Before King gets up, Tony Burke raises an issue with the question, calling it bizarre, and says it doesn’t go to her portfolio.
Before they can continue, Labor MP Ed Husic shouts “You forgot to mention Mamdani” and promptly gets kicked out of the chamber under 94a. (Husic fist-bumped the air as he walked out.)
Take two. Bell asks the same question but adds critical minerals into it to make it more relevant to the resources portfolio. King goes on the attack:
I’m always pleased to be asked about the critical minerals sector of this country and I’m pleased to be asked about how Premier Roger Cook and I in this government are on a ticket with the development of critical minerals in this country.
Those opposite can interject all they want, they referred to unhinged backbenchers, well I can tell you I can see them! Only need to look straight ahead. You might need to look behind you.
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Albanese says he ‘won’t be lectured’ on single-parent families by the Coalition
Liberal MP Mary Aldred is up next and says that according to Anglicare, single-parent families on the minimum wage are left each week with $1 after covering essential expenses like rent transport and food.
Anthony Albanese says Aldred – who was elected to parliament in May – wasn’t here “when all of the cuts [were] made by the former government”.
The PM gets heated and says he “won’t be lectured” on single-parent families by the opposition.
[The Coalition] stand up and continue to argue against minimum wage increases, continue to argue about tax cuts … the leader of the opposition gave a speech about the culture of dependency. What do you think that means? What do you think that means? That means cuts, more cuts and even more cuts.
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Albanese locked out
Just before question time today, Anthony Albanese was locked out from the House of Reps on a vote on Sophie Scamps’ amendment of the environment protection agency bill.
The bells for a division can ring for either one minute or four minutes, after which point the doors are locked and only those in the room are counted.
It’s not like the government needed the extra numbers, but perhaps Albanese might run a little faster next time – like his colleague Tanya Plibersek, who just made it in. See below!
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Independent Monique Ryan asks health minister about more medical research spending
Independent Monique Ryan has the first question from the crossbench, and asks the health minister, Mark Butler, about increasing spending in the Medical Research Future Fund.
She says the MRFF spends $650m a year, when it could and should be spending more.
For context, research by the Parliamentary Budget Office shows the total value of the MRFF will grow at least $30.1bn within a decade, even if $1bn is released for research funding each year.
Butler says:
This is a question you asked before over the last couple of weeks to me and to the treasurer. Our position has not changed. I do want to take the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the MRFF.
We are pulling together a single united national health and medical research strategy … once that strategy is delivered as a final document, and it will be very shortly, we will use that and a 10-year statutory review of the MRFF, that the treasurer and minister for finance recently received and published, to consider a range of things including the matter that the member has now raised a few times in question time.
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Jim Chalmers v Ted O’Brien
Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien gets to ask the next question and continues his prosecution of Jim Chalmers’ budget spending. He says the national accounts show government consumption is growing faster than household consumption, which, O’Brien says, is making it “impossible for the RBA to offer further relief”.
Chalmers says – as he did yesterday – that the RBA has never mentioned government spending in its statements:
They did not mention it in the press conference, they didn’t mention it with the press release and when they released the updated forecasts, when they released their updated forecasts, they downgraded their expectations for public spending on our economy.
Chalmers then tries to stick the knife in, taking a more personal dig at O’Brien:
I think it’s a credit to the strategic nous of the leader of the opposition to give the shadow treasurer a question because nothing does the shadow treasurer’s leadership ambitions more harm than to stand him in front of a microphone that is turned on.
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Albanese says Liberal party more 'temple of doom' than broad church as question time starts
Sussan Ley starts questions and brings up the Foodbank report again – which reports that 20% of households are severely food insecure.
“Why are more Australians going hungry under Labor?” she asks.
Albanese says the modern Liberal party are “not so much a broad church these days as a temple of doom.”
He then lists the government’s cost of living support measures.
Ley then gets up on a point of order on relevance … because “sledges don’t feed people”. The Speaker is absolutely not having that:
That is absolutely unacceptable. Order. We just can’t have question time descend into this, where people just get up and say what they feel like.
Albanese continues, saying the government has created more than 1m jobs and maintained the lowest unemployment rate of any government in 50 years.
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Albanese welcomes Australian athletes headed for Winter Olympics in Italy
The extended voting on the government’s environmental protection and biodiversity bills has slightly delayed question time.
And before they get started, Anthony Albanese welcomes and celebrates some of Australia’s Winter Olympians and Paralympians who will be competing in next year’s Olympics in and around Milan, Italy.
Just as you and your team-mates were inspired to represent our nation on the world stage by the heroics of previous generations of Australian champions, including Zali Steggall, what you do at the 2026 games will inspire our future Olympians and Paralympians.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley calls the athletes “the finest examples of Australian courage, discipline and spirit”.
These games will mark 50 years since Australia first competed at the Winter Paralympics. A milestone worthy of reflection and celebration.
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Dominant species in SA’s algal bloom might not survive summer temperatures, study finds
The bad news is that South Australia’s devastating algal bloom turns out to be mostly made up of a toxic species. The good news is that the species, Karenia Cristata, is not as tolerant of heat as other species, which gives some hope for clearer beaches this summer.
Before now, we knew the bloom was a blend of species, and early testing showed Karenia mikimotoi was dominant. But an unknown species was also in the mix, and something was giving off toxins.
It has killed tens of thousands of fish and marine animals from almost 700 different species, and creates a foam on beaches that can irritate human skin, lungs and eyes.
Professor Shauna Murray is from the University of Technology Sydney and one of the 24 authors of a preprint study (ie, one that has not been peer-reviewed yet) about the bloom.
At a briefing today she said testing showed five different species with Karenia cristata mostly dominant, and that there was still much to be learned about it, as it had only been detected twice before, and this was its first detection in Australia.
She said it is a cooler water species, preferring temperatures at 14C to 20C.
“So it could be that it doesn’t survive the warmer temperatures in summer very well,” she said.
That, in turn, “complicates” the theory that the marine heatwave – exacerbated by climate change – caused the bloom, Murray said, but added that the complexities of the species and the environment meant the heatwave and climate change could have played a role.
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Labor looking to streamline debate on seven environment bills
The government is working through the seven bills related to the country’s environment and biodiversity laws – so the first one, the Environment Protection Reform bill 2025 just passed the House a few moments ago, and now they’re on the second bill, which is to establish the environment protection agency.
There are seven bills in total and a lot of amendments, so I have really had my work cut out for me this afternoon!
The government’s keen to get through all of these today – hence why they voted to stop the member statements to give them an extra half hour for these environment bills.
Leader of the House, Tony Burke, has also just put up a suspension of standing orders that would limit each speaker’s time to five minutes, to speed up the process. Members of the crossbench and opposition are not at all happy about that (but they still don’t have the numbers to stop it from happening.)
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Environment reform bill passes House
The government has passed the environment protection reform bill through the House of Reps, with several amendments from the crossbench.
The crossbench tried to move 84 amendments – by Kate Chaney, Allegra Spender, Zali Steggall, Sophie Scamps, Helen Haines, Nicolette Boele, Andrew Wilkie and Monique Ryan.
Just one amendment was accepted – Chaney’s amendment to ensure public reporting on the progress of nature offsets projects.
Some crossbenchers, the Coalition and Greens all voted against the bill. Independent, Allegra Spender, voted for the bill with Labor.
A reminder (as you’ll all know well by now): the government does not currently have a pathway to pass the bill through the Senate.
Tony Burke has also just pushed to scrap the 90 seconds of members’ statements for today – that normally runs between 1:30pm and question time – to debate the next bill which is to set up the environment protection agency (EPA).
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Seven West shareholders deliver ‘first strike’ against executive pay plans
Seven West Media shareholders have delivered a symbolic “first strike” against the media company’s remuneration report.
At the company’s annual general meeting earlier today, chairman Kerry Stokes told shareholders Seven West executives had not been paid bonuses this year because they “didn’t achieve the objective of our shareholders getting a dividend”.
This wasn’t enough to soothe shareholders who voted to deliver the “first strike” against the company, which occurs when more than 25% of votes are lodged against executive pay plans.
The strike would normally open up the company to the risk of a board spill next year if it were to record a second consecutive strike, however that could be complicated by its anticipated merger with Southern Cross.
The two strikes rule was a federal government initiative from 2011 designed to hold companies to account over excessive pay rates, although strikes are also used by shareholders to express general discontent with a company’s performance.
Stokes, who today presided over his last Seven West AGM as chairman – as long as the merger goes ahead – faced frustration over the company’s ongoing poor performance, which has resulted in a 30% decline in its share price over the last five years to 0.14 cents.
Stokes told shareholders the company’s earnings have “actually been challenged by some very large international companies stealing all our revenue”.
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Defence honours bill looks set to be discharged from Senate debate
The government has faced a few big defeats in the Senate this sitting fortnight.
They’ve just suffered another blow, with the Coalition, Greens and independent senators teaming up again to back David Pocock’s suspension of standing orders to discharge the defence honours bill from the Senate notice paper. Discharging a bill means it won’t proceed and won’t be voted on.
Manager of government business in the Senate, Katy Gallagher, basically accuses Pocock and the others of an ambush, saying “this is the first the government has heard of it, this is the first the minister has heard of it.”
She also disputes Pocock’s claim that the government is stopping the Senate committee examining this bill from reporting on it, and says the Senate agreed to extend the reporting date to 21 November.
Despite that, the suspension of standing orders is backed, and it looks like the bill will soon be discharged.
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Bob Katter’s parliamentary portrait unveiled
Here are a few photos of the PM doing the honours.
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An estimated one in 10 homes bought with 5% deposit scheme in October
About one in 10 homes sold in October were bought with the expanded 5% deposit scheme, government figures suggest.
The scheme supported 5,778 purchases in October, compared with 3,901 supported by its more restricted predecessor in October 2024, government agency Housing Australia reported.
That 50% jump followed the Albanese government removing caps on the number of spots and incomes and lifting price caps last month. About 57,000 homes were bought each month on average in 2024, so about one in 10 homes might have been bought with a government-backed 5% deposit in October.
NAB’s chief executive, Andrew Irvine, said the increase in first-time buying was “encouraging”, announcing the bank’s annual results, which showed property investors accounted for more than two in five new home loans over the six months before October.
Asked about investors outpacing owner-occupiers, Irvine defended the importance of landlords in the market:
We are seeing good growth in first home buyer numbers … Investors are also playing an important role, because they’re providing housing for renters, and so you kind of need both.
Westpac also reported rapid increases in landlord lending on Monday, though it noted booming interest in the deposit scheme’s expansion, with a 150% surge in applications after 1 October.
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David Pocock moves to scrap government’s ‘friendless’ defence honours bill
Independent senator David Pocock is moving to suspend standing orders to discharge the government’s defence honours bill from the Senate.
The bill would limit the time on which acts by a member of the defence force can be considered for higher recognition to 20 years.
Pocock says the motion is “urgent”, and will send a message to veterans.
This is urgent because we have a friendless bill that the government is stopping a Senate committee reporting on. I urge the Senate, it’s time to say as a Senate we will not stand for that, we will not deal with a bill that the department admitted they did no consultation on.
I’ve heard from veterans about the urgency to send a message to the government that this should not be the priority. Responding and implementing the recommendations of the royal commission into veterans’ suicide should be the priority, and that is why this is so urgent.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie says the Coalition will support the motion. She calls the bill a “betrayal of trust” of veterans.
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Albanese unveils Parliament House portrait of Bob Katter
Father of the house Bob Katter is being honoured today with a portrait in Parliament House marking his more than 50 years of service to the Queensland and federal parliaments.
Anthony Albanese marks the occasion, calling Katter one of the most “recognisable” faces in parliament.
The PM jokes that while Katter has a unique sartorial style, he’s switched to fancy dress “when the need arises”.
We’ve seen him dressed as a pig. We’ve seen him dressed as the Grim Reaper, just as two examples. So if I can make a request, no more dress-ups.
Albanese calls Katter a gracious host and passionate advocate for his public, and also jokes that the Queenslander is “never, ever on time”.
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Victoria announces changes to real estate guidelines to target underquoting
Real estate agents who illegally underquote property listings will now have to follow strict guidelines in Victoria, after a taskforce monitoring more than 2,800 sales campaigns issued 203 fines totalling over $2.3m and 292 official warnings to agents caught breaching their obligations.
Adding to existing requirements, agents must now consider a home’s age and renovation status when setting a price on comparable sales.
Announcing the changes, the minister for consumer affairs, Nick Staikos, will ensure agents use the most appropriate comparable local properties when determining a home’s likely selling price before auction, to drive greater transparency across the industry and further protect homebuyers.
Under Victoria’s underquoting laws, estate agents must provide sellers with an estimate of the selling price for their home and must not advertise the property below this estimate. The estimate must be reasonable and consider the sale prices of three comparable properties listed on the Statement of Information for prospective purchasers.
Staikos said:
Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions many Victorians will make – and it’s already a stressful enough process without misleading and dishonest price estimates.
This is just one part of the ways we’re stamping out underquoting, with the taskforce using a range of methods to monitor the market, including tracking sales campaigns and inspecting agencies, as well as attending auctions.
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Lehrmann and lawyer’s court no-show over vehicle stealing charge
Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer Zali Burrows has been issued a broadside after the pair’s no-show in court on a car-stealing charge.
The former political staffer was listed to appear in Hobart magistrates court on Thursday.
However, the 30-year-old didn’t appear and attempts to get Burrows, a high-profile Sydney solicitor, by phone were unsuccessful, leaving the police prosecutor and presiding officer, magistrate Robert Webster, unimpressed.
“From emails ... she doesn’t understand the purpose of this court at all,” Webster said.
The magistrate said Burrows told her she misunderstood whether the morning’s appearance was a hearing or a mention.
He also said Lehrmann was “not available today due to urgent medical issues/tests”, according to his lawyer, who asked for an adjournment.
Lehrmann did appear in the federal court across town in Hobart on Tuesday on a separate matter relating to alleged misappropriations of secret documents related to French submarines in 2019.
- AAP
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Andrew Wilkie says he won’t support proposed nature laws without significant change
Over to the lower house, where the government’s proposed nature laws are being debated.
Andrew Wilkie, independent MP for Clark, has said he won’t support the bill without significant changes.
He said the plight of the Maugean skate is “emblematic of what’s wrong with our environment laws currently, and what the government plans to bake in with these reforms”:
There in Macquarie Harbour, we have an endangered prehistoric fish which has outlasted the dinosaurs and exists in that one location only, we’ve also got clear scientific evidence of its decline coinciding with expanded salmon farming following a federal approval.
He earlier said:
It’s been well ventilated by now that these reforms fall well short of what’s needed to stop and reverse biodiversity loss and to meet the challenges of the climate crisis, because it’s riddled with all sorts of carve-outs and loopholes which will allow for continued environmental destruction in the face of all the evidence.
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Plibersek defends move to cancel welfare payments of people accused of serious crimes
The social services minister, Tanya Plibersek, has defending the government’s move to cancel welfare payments of those accused of serious crimes and on the run from the law.
Various groups including civil society organisations, First Nations people, survivors of family violence, legal experts and disabled people have all criticised the change.
Speaking to Sky News earlier today, Plibersek said there are already measures in place that allow Centrelink payments to be cancelled if someone is suspected of a terrorism offence and their passport or visa has been cancelled.
What I am proposing is that the home affairs minister, after a request from the federal police or state police, determines whether that person, whether there’s strong evidence against them, there’s a warrant for their arrest, they’re a continuing threat to the community, after considering any dependents, making sure that we look after the dependants, that person can have their social security benefit cancelled the same day, the same way they would if they were waiting on remand to be tried for a serious crime.
Plibersek says the arguments against giving the power to the home affairs minister to cancel these payments is “unbelievable”.
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FoI bill passes the House of Representatives
This isn’t surprising, seeing the government has a majority in the lower house, but the Coalition, Greens and independents all voted against it.
The bill passed with a minor amendment – that the government had moved – that was agreed to while the bill was being debated in the Federation chamber.
But all of those larger amendments put forward by the crossbench were rejected, as I brought you a bit earlier.
We know that neither the Greens nor Coalition are currently supportive of this controversial bill, so the government is going to somehow have to convince one of them to come onside.
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Jess Collins apologises for embarrassing mistake
Incredible scenes in the Senate this morning, as the NSW Liberal senator Jess Collins corrects the record about some comments she made regarding party elder statesman Richard Alston earlier in the week.
Speaking about a private senator’s bill, Collins told the Senate on Wednesday that the Coalition had a proud history of contributing to Australia’s superannuation system, “starting with the significant contributions of the late Senator Richard Alston in the 1990s”.
If anybody had the privilege of listening to the condolence speeches to the late Senator Richard Alston just a few months ago, we heard about the significant, very significant contributions that he and the coalition made to ensuring that this superannuation, as I said before, worked for all Australians.
The only problem is, Alston is very much alive and kicking. Alston had been part of a special committee in charge of managing the NSW Liberal party branch but was dumped in June, along with former Victorian party official Alan Stockdale.
Collins had made a personal explanation to the Senate in the past few minutes.
She called Alston a “good friend” and clarified to the chamber that the late senator she was talking about was in fact John Watson.
I can confirm that former Senator Richard Alston, AO, is A-OK, having spoken to him immediately after my speech to apologise for my mistake.
I thank former Senator Richard Alston for his good grace and his humour for encouraging me by saying that ‘If that’s the worst mistake you made from parliament, you’ll be doing OK’.
Collins apologised to anyone who might have been taken by surprise by her comments.
Collins has had the official record of proceedings from Wednesday morning altered to reflect the fact she was talking about Watson, and not Alston.
Members of Parliament can ask to have errors corrected in the Hansard.
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Government blocks amendments to FoI bill
The house is bounding through amendments from crossbench MPs to the government’s controversial freedom of information bill.
So far amendments from Helen Haines and Sophie Scamps have been voted down by the government – though supported by the Coalition.
They’re currently voting on amendments from Kate Chaney.
There’s no debate on any of the amendments – the government successfully blocked debate with a suspension of standing orders earlier.
The government could ram this legislation through the house this morning, but in the Senate, where Labor doesn’t have a majority, things will get a fair bit stickier.
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Microsoft apologises for AI confusion, offers refunds
Almost three million Australians will be offered refunds after a tech giant apologised for the way it charged customers to access its artificial intelligence tools, AAP reports.
Microsoft Australia emailed the offer to software subscribers on Thursday and admitted the pricing structure and plans lacked clarity and fell short of its standards.
The apology comes 10 days after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against Microsoft Australia and its parent company in the federal court, claiming it had misled consumers about the price of their subscriptions and the availability of cheaper plans without AI tools.
The US firm could face multimillion-dollar penalties if the court finds in the commission’s favour.
Microsoft Australia began sending messages to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers on Thursday morning, outlining available plans and apologising for a lack of clarity about them.
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NAB profits slip as business debts go bad
National Australia Bank has warned its loans have continued to get riskier, after reporting rising bad debts have eaten into its profits.
The big bank copped bad debt costs of $833m for the year, more than $100m higher than the previous year. Loan quality had kept deteriorating but at a slowing pace as inflation and interest rates eased over 2025, according to NAB’s annual report, out today.
Andrew Irvine, NAB’s chief executive, said the hit came from a handful of bigger businesses falling behind, which he downplayed as “quite common”. Personal loans to Australian households also made up some of the loss, while mortgage and credit card arrears eased after the first Reserve Bank interest rate cut in February.
The bank’s cash earnings went backwards to $7.09bn but Irvine argued it had “good momentum” on underlying profits, excluding tax and the $833m credit impairment charge. Loans to business grew at the fastest rate since early 2022, he told reporters.
Fossil fuel producers did not contribute much there, with analysis by environmental advocacy group Market Forces finding NAB has slashed exposure to oil and gas producers by $700m in the last two years.
Irvine also said NAB had the right work-from-home settings, after the Finance Sector Union warned banks to properly consider requests for flexibility in the wake of last month’s Fair Work Commission ruling against Westpac.
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Freedom of information bill debated
It’s all happening in the house this morning – the freedom of information bill, which was punted by the government to the smaller federation chamber, has come back to the house for debate.
Independent MP Helen Haines had put forward amendments to the bill in the Federation chamber which could not be resolved there and have now come back to the house for debate.
Haines is moving two amendments – which boil down to scrapping the cabinet secrecy expansions and scrapping the fees.
Haines says:
In a bill full of antidemocratic reforms that will worsen transparency and accountability, these amendments are particularly important because they go to the question of cabinet exemption expansion.
It’s already incredibly difficult under the current FoI Act to access documents that have gone anywhere near the cabinet room.
The first amendment is voted down.
Then, leader of the house, Tony Burke, tries to gag any further debate on the bill, by moving a suspension of standing orders, saying the debate has already been had in the Federation chamber.
The opposition are voting with the crossbench to allow debate on the bill to continue (but as we know, they don’t have the numbers).
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Disability ministers granted extra time to discuss proposed changes to NDIS
State and territory disability ministers have called off their threat to boycott a meeting with the federal government this Friday on the NDIS after being granted extra time to discuss the proposed sweeping changes that will see kids with mild to moderate developmental delays taken off the $50bn scheme from 2027.
Guardian Australia understands ministers will now be given a total of 60 minutes collectively to discuss the proposal and raise any issues after previously being capped at two minutes each.
Last Friday, ministers wrote to the federal disability minister, Mark Butler, and NDIS minister, Jenny McAllister, warning they would not attend unless they could each contribute at least 10 minutes to the discussion.
It’s expected the discussions will be dominated by the federal government’s announcement in August to establish a $2bn program from mid-2026 designed to reduce the number of kids entering the NDIS, with states and territories previously saying they were blind-sided by the commitment.
The latest annual report for the National Disability Insurance Agency shows the delay in establishing foundational supports, like the Thriving Kids initiative, has increased the scheme’s projected costs by $7.7bn in the four years to 2029.
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Coroner to deliver findings into death of German backpacker Simone Strobel
The NSW coroner will deliver her findings today into the death of German backpacker Simone Strobel.
The 25-year-old schoolteacher’s body was found concealed under palm fronds at a sports ground six days after she was last seen at a Lismore caravan park in February 2005. A 2007 inquest heard she had had been suffocated with a pillow or plastic bag.
Last year, the cold case’s lead investigator told a fresh inquest he believed Strobel was probably killed by her boyfriend, Tobias Moran, who had travelled with her from Germany.
Moran, who now lives in Western Australia, was charged with murder in 2022, but prosecutors chose not to proceed and the charges were withdrawn. Moran, who was always maintained his innocence, was paid $190,000 in compensation.
We’ll bring you the findings later today.
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Community and Public Sector Union criticise employment services as ‘a complete failure’
The CPSU has said Australia’s employment services system are “a complete failure”, after Guardian Australia reported earlier this week only 11.7% of jobseekers secured long-term work last year, while billions of taxpayer dollars were funnelled into private providers.
The current employment services system is projected to cost taxpayers $8.2bn over the next four years, and is dominated by only a handful of providers owned by multinational companies.
The CPSU said providers have been caught engaging in unethical behaviour while taking taxpayers’ dollars. Melissa Donnelly, CPSU national secretary, said:
Privatisation has turned employment services into a tick-a-box profit-driven industry that rewards providers for keeping people in a cycle of unemployment, and these numbers are proof of that.
An 11.7% success rate isn’t success at all – it’s failure. Failure to support jobseekers, failure to meet workforce demands, and failure to provide value for money.
Australians deserve better than a system that punishes jobseekers while lining the pockets of multinational corporations. It’s time to end this failed experiment and bring back the CES.
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More on bid to host Cop31
Climate watchers in Canberra have noted that Turkey’s vice-president, Cevdet Yilmaz, is headed to Belem, Brazil this week for the annual Cop climate summit.
Australia and Turkey are competing to host next year’s Cop31 event, and the race is coming down to the wire. The fact that Yilmaz, and not Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is headed to Belem could be significant.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is not headed to the event.
Australia will be represented by the assistant minister for climate change and energy, Josh Wilson (who is already at the summit), and later by the climate minister, Chris Bowen.
Australia has majority support to host the conference, but UN rules require consensus among member states.
As long as both Australia and Turkey remain in the race, neither side can be declared the winner.
That risks the hosting rights defaulting to Bonn, in Germany.
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Bill introduced to require streaming services to spend more on Australian content
Staying in the House where the CDC bill just passed, arts minister Tony Burke is introducing a bill to legislate a requirement on streaming services to have guaranteed Australian content.
The bill would force services with at least 1 million Australian subscribers to spend at least 10% of their total expenditure for Australia or 7.5% of their revenue on new local drama, children’s, documentary, arts and educational programs.
We should never underestimate how important it is for Australians to see ourselves on screen, it helps us to better understand ourselves and our neighbours and allows the world to see Australian stories … they are our greatest cultural asset.
[Australian stories] reflect and define who we are as a nation and make us recognisable on the international stage. Australian stories help make sense of our past, define ourselves in the present and promote our people, our creativity and our country to the world.
The content quotas was a promise by Labor ahead of the 2022 election, but progress seemingly stalled over uncertainties about how it could be quarantined from Australia’s free trade agreement with the US.
Burke says this legislation is “consistent with Australia’s international trade obligations”.
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Australia continues last-ditch bid to host Cop31 in 2026
Australia is still pushing to win hosting rights for the Cop climate summit next year, with the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and others continuing to make last-ditch diplomatic efforts to secure the bid.
The federal government wants to host a “Pacific” climate summit, but the hosting rights are determined by consensus, not a formal vote, and Turkey also remains keen to host the conference. Australia and Turkey have been discussing how to manage that, and whether hosting rights could even be partially shared.
It’s understood Wong this week again contacted her Turkish ministerial counterpart, Hakan Fidan, to try and break the impasse. In a speech to an international development conference last night, Wong said the Australian government “will continue to make our case to host the Conference of the Parties next year, in partnership with the Pacific”.
We recognise that the threat of the climate crisis – to livelihoods, security and prosperity – is most urgent for Pacific island countries.
As I have made very clear to my Turkish counterpart, and as Minister Bowen has made clear to his counterpart, and indeed as the prime minister has made clear to President Erdoğan: we remain committed to delivering a Cop that will elevate Pacific voices and put a global spotlight on the urgent impacts of climate change in our region.
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Government to pass Centre for Disease Control legislation
After passing through the Senate with amendments yesterday afternoon, the governments bill to legislate an AustralianCentre for Disease Control is back in the house to pass parliament.
Anthony Albanese is speaking on the bill this morning, and says he called for the establishment of an independent ACDC after Covid.
We must not forget one of the factors that saw Australia even more vulnerable to Covid and its impacts was [that] we hadn’t had a [pandemic] drill since Exercise Sustain under the Rudd government.
Albanese said the new CDC will be an independent statutory agency with a director general and will be in place on 1 January next year. On a lighter note (with a dig at Sussan Ley) he says:
You couldn’t ask for a more Australian acronym than ACDC Mr Speaker, though if this ACDC were to have a theme song, and I know raising contemporary music is dangerous in this house, it would have to be ‘Highway to Health’.
When it comes to a vote, there’s just a couple of Coalition members in the chamber, who force a division despite the government’s overwhelming majority (“Good on ya,” one government member says).
As everyone else is filing in, Albanese can be heard joking, “What are the hidden messages in ACDC?”
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Watt prepares for ‘intense negotiations’ on environment bill over coming fortnight
Murray Watt has an uphill battle in getting the Coalition or the Greens over the line on his environment protection bills – but has been all smiles and positivity so far.
Speaking in the corridor a little earlier this morning, Watt said he’s open to amendments from either side and acknowledges that no one is going to get 100% of what they want.
But what, in his view, are the Coalition and the Greens seeking in their negotiations with him?
The Coalition are struggling to come to a position on this because of their internal dysfunction at the moment, but it is becoming clearer that they do seek changes to some of the issues that business groups have been raising, whether that be around the definition of unacceptable impact, the role of the EPA.
And equally, the Greens are seeking changes relating to climate change relating to forestry activities, so we’ll give some thought to all of those options. You know, we’ve still got two weeks to go before we come back here and I know there’ll be some intense negotiations between now and then.
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Victorian police chief forced to defend use of helicopters as wife’s flight revealed
Victoria’s police commissioner has been forced to defend his use of a taxpayer-funded helicopter after details emerged of another undeclared flight, AAP reports.
Mike Bush has denied allegations he and his wife misled taxpayers about the extent of his use of the police aircraft.
The controversy comes just weeks after he apologised for using the police helicopter to travel from Melbourne to Hobart for a meeting with his national and trans-Tasman counterparts.
It has since emerged that Bush’s wife joined a 10-minute flight over Melbourne on 28 June. The commissioner also took another undisclosed flight on 29 July.
Bush said he had only been on the helicopter once for non-operational travel, a decision that triggered his previous apology.
He said the July flight was deemed necessary to understand the unique technology of the state’s air-wing fleet. In a statement Bush said:
This day was organised with this in mind and provided me with a deeper knowledge of how our elite units work to keep Victoria safe.
To be clear, this flight was not for non-operational travel – it was to gain a very real understanding of how the Air Wing operates in the air which simply cannot be achieved from ground level.
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Record wait times for mental health patients
The latest Public Hospital Report Card: Mental Health Edition from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) describes how exit block, a shortage of inpatient mental health unit beds, a lack of investment in community and primary mental healthcare, and a lack of interoperable electronic patient records all result in time-consuming administrative burdens.
The AMA president, Dr Danielle McMullen, said: “An increasing number of patients are presenting to health services in acute mental health crisis, requiring urgent intervention and coordinated care.”
For many of these patients, a hospital admission is required and the journey through the ED (emergency department) is a daunting and overwhelming experience. Patients are facing long waits in bright, noisy environments that often lead to increased agitation and distress. Sadly, this can lead to either verbal or physical assaults on staff, with violence in public hospitals continuing to rise.
She said governments must focus on funding accessible, high-quality mental health supports in the community, and that there is also a pressing need for increased investment in the public hospital system.
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Net zero debate ‘chewing up so much energy’, says Bragg
Andrew Bragg, one of the Liberal party’s most vocal and staunch advocates to retain a net zero target – at least by the end of the century – hasn’t missed a day of doing media this week.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast this morning, the Liberal senator continues to push for a quick resolution, and come up with a plan to “reduce emissions but also to protect their jobs and to ensure the industry remains onshore”.
Bragg defends the process, and confirms that while senior members of the Liberal party room haven’t yet seen Dan Tehan’s report, the process is “almost finished”.
I think it now needs to be brought to a head and resolved, I think, because it is harming our ability to hold the government to account because this is chewing up so much energy.
I imagine we’ll see it soon because this will be resolved this parliamentary year, and as you know, we’re running out of runway.
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Barnaby Joyce says One Nation vote is ‘climbing up’
Is he staying or is he going, Barnaby Joyce still says he’s keeping his cards “close to his chest” on a possible move to One Nation, but seems to certainly have good things to say about the minor party.
On the Today show, he says the One Nation vote is “climbing up”, and that momentum on ditching net zero is building. But he says he’s still with the Nationals, even if he’s still not showing up to the party room meetings.
Joyce: I haven’t left. I’m still a member of the National party, have a look at question time.
Karl Stefanovic: Is there a chance you won’t leave now?
Joyce: I’m going to keep those cards up my sleeve.
(For someone keeping his cards up his sleeve, he sure does spend a lot of time in the media.)
Asked if he has any regrets over the debate on net zero, Joyce says there are “none whatsoever”. He also doesn’t believe the debate “blows up the Coalition”.
I don’t think it blows up Coalition. You can see what with where we went in the last election. It was not good and we had a policy at the last election that supported net zero and we got we got our electoral backside handed to us on a plate.
He ends the interview saying he’s got “no problems” with Liberal leader Sussan Ley and wishes her all the best.
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Home care waitlists to change ‘quite considerably’, health minister
Mark Butler says home care waitlists will change as a result of the extra 20,000 packages that the government was forced to bring online before the aged care changes started on 1 November.
On RN Breakfast this morning, the minister for health and ageing is asked what the current waiting times are for a home care package, but he says he doesn’t have the latest data.
I haven’t seen data in the last couple of weeks since we got the additional 20,000 packages out that we got in the last eight weeks to the end of October. We’ve got another 20,000 that are going out in the coming eight weeks as well. So we expect that to change the waitlists quite considerably. We’ve been looking at the assessment waitlists, as you would be aware, which are coming down, particularly outside of hospitals.
Host, Sally Sara, also pushes Butler on whether the assessments for aged care should be done by private providers – which the royal commission recommended against.
Butler says the government “inherited” a largely privatised system, with the states also doing some of the assessment.
We inherited a largely private arrangement outside of the hospital system, which, as I said, is largely for people requiring non-residential care. We’ve kept that in place, but we reversed the original decision from the Morrison government to privatise the hospital-based systems.
Pauline Hanson speaks at CPAC event at Mar-a-Lago
One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) “circle retreat and gala” at Mar-a-Lago today.
Hanson confirmed to Sky News that she would be making the speech, and had attended Donald Trump’s Halloween party last week (which her office previously wouldn’t confirm).
The Queensland senator was also spotted in pics posted by CPAC sitting at a table next to mining magnate Gina Rinehart (who also attended the Halloween party).
In an Instagram post, Hanson shared photos showing her speaking at the lectern, standing beside CPAC Australia host and co-founder Andrew Cooper, and a broader view of the stage at the Mar-a-Lago ballroom.
She wrote:
It was refreshing to stand in a room where common sense still matters. Where strong borders, national pride, energy independence, and putting your own people first aren’t dirty words, they’re priorities.
In just one year, under President Trump’s leadership, America is turning itself around.
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Senate to debate Greens bill on universities divesting from ‘dirty industries’
A Greens bill that would require universities to divest from any partnerships with “dirty industries”, including weapons manufacturers, gambling, fossil fuel and tobacco companies, will be debated in the Senate this morning.
It follows a grassroots referendum led by the National Union of Students earlier this year that led to around 5,000 students voting for universities to divest from all partnerships with weapons companies.
It follows a report in Guardian Australia yesterday which found the Australian National University bought $138,000 worth of shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer in March, despite an earlier pledge to not invest in controversial arms companies.
The Australia Institute’s recent Fossil-Fuelled Universities report found that 26 of Australia’s 37 public universities take money from fossil fuel companies, including Woodside, AGL and Santos, but the true extent of industry partnerships remains opaque.
The Greens deputy leader and higher education spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said “having these links to dirty industries betrays … the mission of academia”.
The rules are so lax that we don’t even know the full extent of these dirty partnerships, which is deeply concerning given the governance issues rife in the sector.
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James Paterson denies Nationals setting Coalition’s policy agenda
Having a very similar discussion to Jane Hume is James Paterson who is talking to Sky News.
Paterson says he would have liked the issue to have been sorted out by now, so the party could “focus our fire” on the government.
He also denies the Nationals are leading the Liberals on Coalition policy.
The National party are their own independent, sovereign political party, and they went through their own process to determine their position on net zero. The Liberal party will go and is going through our own process too, and you and your viewers will not have long to wait before we’re able to answer questions about exactly where we stand on those issues.
On another issue, on yesterday’s verbal brawl in question time between Jim Chalmers and Alex Hawke, Paterson responds to reports that “performance” did filter their way over to the lower house.
I thought the most interesting and telling thing was the way in which Jim Chalmers lashed out. He’s normally a very cool customer, but for him to lash out in such an extraordinary way yesterday shows how much pressure he’s under.
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Jane Hume plays down divisions in the Liberal party
The Liberal party is in damage control, trying to hold itself together as it forms a position on energy and net zero.
On ABC News Breakfast this morning, Jane Hume, a moderate and former frontbencher, says the party isn’t as divided as the public might think.
There’s “so much more that we agree on than we disagree on”, she says, and denies her party is being held ransom by the Nationals – who came out with their anti-net zero stance over the weekend.
The Nationals have a position and the Liberal party will develop its position and we’ll announce it soon. The most important thing soon is that as a coalition, we then come up with a joint policy we can take to the next election … We need to make sure we protect our natural environment and by that I also mean our regional and rural communities who at the moment are being blanketed with renewable energy projects.
On whether she believes Sussan Ley will be the leader come Christmas, Hume says
Absolutely. Sussan is the leader and leading debate. We want to take the time and get it right.
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Waiting time for 'complex' home care package assessment is falling, minister says
The federal aged care minister, Sam Rae, has said the median assessment time for home care packages has reduced in the past quarter down to 23 days.
He told ABC’s 7.30 program last night that the assessment process has “historically been very complex” but since the single-assessment system was brought in at the end of last year, it has matured and the benefits are seen in the reduction of median assessment time has gone from 31 days in the last quarter to 23 days now.
He said:
But, of course, I want to see older people and the people that love them being able to access an assessment and care system that is agile and able to respond to their needs. So we’ll keep working to make sure that that assessment system is part of a broader ecosystem is that is responsive to the needs of older people in our community.
He admitted the median doesn’t represent the experience for everyone and there would be “variability” in the wait times.
The priority system, he said, has low wait times for those who have the most acute needs – sometimes less than a day.
On new aged care reforms that would introduce a means-tested copayment for home care packages, Rae said it was about ensuring a sustainable system with an ageing population. He said the federal government will continue to pay for all of clinical care for in-home recipients.
Sanctions placed on cybercriminals funding North Korea weaponry
The government has placed financial sanctions and travel bans on cybercriminals supporting and funding North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction.
In a statement this morning, foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the sanctions have been placed on four entities and one individual.
“The scale of North Korea’s involvement in malicious cyber-enabled activities, including cryptocurrency theft, fraudulent IT work and espionage is deeply concerning,” the statement said.
A report by the Multilateral Sanction Monitoring Team found North Korean cyber actors stole at least $1.9bn in cryptocurrency from companies around the world in 2024. It also found North Korean officials used cryptocurrencies to sell and transfer military equipment.
Wong said the government is taking the action with the United States.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the United States announced sanctions on two entities and eight individuals allegedly involved in supporting North Korean money laundering.
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Watt optimistic environment protection bill will pass parliament this year
Murray Watt still believes the government’s environment protection bills can be passed through the parliament this year (with just five whole joint sitting days left – including today).
Does that mean anything has changed? Not exactly.
Watt tells ABC News Breakfast he’s negotiating with the Coalition and the Greens, and tries to take a jab at the Greens who will be voting against the bill in the house today alongside Barnaby Joyce.
There will be a Senate committee with three days of hearings looking at the bill, ahead of that last sitting week starting on 24 November. Watt says:
I have had further discussions with both the Coalition and the Greens this week, and I expect that will continue over the next fortnight … [It’s] a bit hard for the Coalition at the moment. They’re very divided over net zero and I think that is getting in the way of their ability to really focus on these laws … it’s an opportunity for the Greens over the next fortnight to put aside to sort of blocking and spoiling games that they get up.
Watt says what the parties are saying to him behind closed doors is “a little bit more moderate than the rhetoric they carry on in the media”, and he urges them to lock in and do a deal.
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Be better than a ‘year two classroom’ says Pocock on question time
Independent David Pocock, who has seen plenty of drama himself in the Senate (catch up here), weighs into to yesterday’s drama where there were some accusations of “liar” thrown around the house chamber.
On a panel on the Today show this morning, Pocock says the behaviour in question time is often “disgraceful”.
He also makes the point that we don’t often learn much from the questions and answers either.
Question time I think is disgraceful a lot of the time, it’s question time not answer time, you ask questions, you don’t get too many answers a lot of the time … you’re having to sit listening to people yelling at each other and you don’t learn much. So pretty disappointing. And you’d hope that politicians could hold themselves to a little bit of a higher standard than, you know, a year two or three classroom.
Labor frontbencher, Amanda Rishworth, who joined Pocock on the panel, called it “a rowdy day in politics”, and agreed her six-year-old has “probably behaved better”.
When passions are high, question time can get a bit rowdy … but of course we can all do better.
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Good morning, Krishani Dhanji with you here, thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
It’s the last sitting day of the fortnight, and there’s just one more full week of joint sittings to go (starting Monday 24 November) before parliament closes shop for the year.
The biggest item still on the agenda for the government is the Environment Protection Act, which saw plenty of debate in the house yesterday, and should be pushed through that chamber today (but a reminder there’s still no pathway for the government to get it through the Senate). For the Liberals, it’s of course getting to a position on energy and net zero. Time is ticking.
We’ll likely see some more reaction today to that spat in parliament yesterday during house question time, when the two major parties traded barbs and called each other liars (yikes!)
Stick with us, it’s going to be a busy day.
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NSW Nationals leader says nothing ‘off the table’ on energy policy
In a bid to head off a potential rebellion among his members, the NSW Nationals leader, Dugald Saunders, said this week he wouldn’t be “taking anything off the table” when it comes to the state’s energy policy.
One option is to change the commitment to something more vauge, such as achieving the target sometime in the second half of the century while aggressively pursuing nuclear energy, which is not part of the 2020 roadmap.
The likely abandonment of the commitment will be a further blow to beleaguered Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, who is a firm supporter of the 2020 Energy roadmap.
The roadmap was devised by former energy minister and close colleague, Matt Kean, now the head of the Climate Change Authority.
The Minns Labor government has continued implementing the roadmap, though critics in the Nationals say it has done so without regard for the impacts on rural communities.
Depending on what the outcome is, the issue could spark a leadership challenge from Paul Toole, the leader before Saunders and who represents the more conservative wing of the party.
It could also fracture the Coalition agreement.
Saunders has tried to work with his Coalition partners, despite increasing friction over feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park, the Great Koala national park, controls on poker machines and more recently windfarms and energy policy.
But energy policy is a central issue and the Nationals abandonment of net zero will put enormous strains on the Coalition.
Some Liberals fear that walking away from net zero would leave the NSW Liberals facing the same kind of wipeout in heartland seats from teal independents.
The alternative of splitting from the Nationals is also being discussed, but that could leave the Liberals with no clear path back to government for a decade.
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NSW Nationals likely to abandon net zero commitment
The NSW Nationals are likely to formally abandon a commitment to net zero, when the party meets next Tuesday, after the federal party’s similar moves this week.
The move will create further turmoil for the NSW Coalition, which is already dealing with a leadership crisis and flagging poll numbers as it suffers from the brand damage inflicted by the federal infighting.
Sources said the Nationals’ party room was due to receive a briefing on Monday from the author of the report which underpinned the federal Nationals’ decision to walk away from net zero last week.
Senator Ross Cadell is due to brief the party on findings of the Nationals-aligned Page Research Centre. The review, led by Cadell and senator Matt Canavan, concluded “a net zero commitment no longer serves the interests of the Australian people”.
“Since Australia committed to its net zero target, electricity and gas prices have increased by around 40 per cent,” the report notes.
In June the NSW Nationals grassroots party voted to abandon net zero with a hefty majority, with the mover of the motion arguing that there was no point having targets without a clear path to get there.
But the vote was not binding on the parliamentary party.
On Tuesday the party will formally consider its position, amid anger among Nationals over the impacts on rural communities.
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Finance union warns banks to review WFH policies
The Finance Sector Union has warned employers they may be breaching workplace law if they reject flexible work requests without proper consideration, consultation or justification.
The FSU correspondence, sent to financial institutions across Australia, follows last month’s Fair Work Commission ruling that allowed Westpac employee, Karlene Chandler, to work from home, overturning an order from the bank to attend a corporate office two days a week.
Westpac was found to have breached various procedural requirements in responding to Chandler’s request. The bank also unsuccessfully argued it had reasonable business grounds for refusing her application.
The FSU member, who has young children, relied on a section of the Fair Work Act which allows eligible employees with carer responsibilities to make such requests.
The FSU national assistant secretary, Nicole McPherson, said:
We’ve told every major bank to get their own house in order — fix rejected work-from-home requests, comply with the law, and stop acting like flexibility is a privilege.
Westpac broke the law when it ignored its own worker’s rights and we’re putting every other bank on notice that they can’t do the same.
Westpac said earlier this week it was reflecting on its response to the decision and would decide on its next steps in the coming weeks.
The bank has defended its office policies, describing them as “one of the most flexible work-from-home positions in the marketplace”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the best of the overnight news and then it will be Krishani Dhanji to wrap an action-packed sitting fortnight.
The NSW Nationals appear set to follow the federal party’s example and formally abandon a commitment to net zero when the party meets next Tuesday. Such a move would intensify the crisis in the state party, which is struggling with poor poll ratings under its leader, Dugald Saunders. More in a moment.
The aged care minister, Sam Rae, says the time people have to wait for an assessment on home care packages has reduced in the past quarter to 23 days thanks to the government’s reforms of the “historically complex” system. He told the ABC’s 7.30 last night that he wanted an “agile” process but admitted the median would not be everyone’s experience. More details soon.
And the bank workers’ union has written to financial institutions warning them to respect requests for flexible working after a landmark ruling on WFH.
